Re: LLM usage in Debian -- ballot options comparison

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On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 at 21:14, Theodore Tso <[email protected]> wrote:

> > People have tried using TPUs for EM field simulations and found them to
> be
> > largely useless because 16 bit floats aren't all that great.
>
> You should *never* try to use LLM's to do math, and in fact, that's
> not how it gets used when it is used properly.
>
> For example, when I asked Gemini to give me a model answering a
> financial investment question (e.g., under what assumptions should I
> sell highly appreciated stock, and take the tax hit right away, but
> allowing me to diversify my holdings, and when does the advantage of
> the diversified holdings over take the initial capital gains tax
> cost).  The way the LLM answered my question was that it generated a
> Python script, and then ran that Python program in a sandbox, and the
> formatted the results in a table illustrating the assumptions when the
> breakeven would be hit.
>
> More importantly, it allowed me to download the Python script, and I
> was able to take that script and modify and enhance it to try out different
> assumptions.
>
> This was incredibly useful to me, and given that the Python program
> was created specifically to model the question that I was asking, (a)
> the specialized floating point formay used by LLM's doesn't matter,
> (b) we don't have to worry about all of the (valid) concerns of LLM
> not being able to do math, and (c) given that the python script was
> generated to specific to my question, unless you believe that how to
> use python libraries to do time value of money calculations are a
> potential copyright problem, I'm not particularly worried about
> copyright issues.  (The python script was a throwaway, and I wasn't
> planning on redistributing it anyway.  :-)


This is another *HUGE* benefit of this newest generation of LLMs and it is
a revolutionary change in the wider world that I am am already seeing daily
- it is personal free software happening at massive scale.

People, who are *NOT* programmers are able to describe their needs in plain
language and get their own, personal free software generated that does
exactly what *they* want it to do. Be it a Python script, be it a OpenSCAD
3D model, be it an Android or iPhone application or a web app. We are
entering into a domain, where an older, non-programmer relative of mine was
able to generate an Android app for themselves that replace a paid app and
had extra features they really wanted and get that on their phone working
perfectly within a couple of hours. It is life-changing enablement that
free software movement aways wanted to deliver to everyone, but so far has
only been able to deliver to programmers.

This is a massive benefit, that we, as programmers, do not really see or
value all that much.

-- 
Best regards,
    Aigars Mahinovs

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir=
=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Sun, 2 Aug 2026 at 21:14, Theodore Tso &lt=
;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>&gt; wrote:<br></div><bl=
ockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-lef=
t:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">&gt; People have tried using=
 TPUs for EM field simulations and found them to be<br>
&gt; largely useless because 16 bit floats aren&#39;t all that great.<br>
<br>
You should *never* try to use LLM&#39;s to do math, and in fact, that&#39;s=
<br>
not how it gets used when it is used properly.<br>
<br>
For example, when I asked Gemini to give me a model answering a<br>
financial investment question (e.g., under what assumptions should I<br>
sell highly appreciated stock, and take the tax hit right away, but<br>
allowing me to diversify my holdings, and when does the advantage of<br>
the diversified holdings over take the initial capital gains tax<br>
cost).=C2=A0 The way the LLM answered my question was that it generated a<b=
r>
Python script, and then ran that Python program in a sandbox, and the<br>
formatted the results in a table illustrating the assumptions when the<br>
breakeven would be hit.<br>
<br>
More importantly, it allowed me to download the Python script, and I<br>
was able to take that script and modify and enhance it to try out different=
<br>
assumptions.<br>
<br>
This was incredibly useful to me, and given that the Python program<br>
was created specifically to model the question that I was asking, (a)<br>
the specialized floating point formay used by LLM&#39;s doesn&#39;t matter,=
<br>
(b) we don&#39;t have to worry about all of the (valid) concerns of LLM<br>
not being able to do math, and (c) given that the python script was<br>
generated to specific to my question, unless you believe that how to<br>
use python libraries to do time value of money calculations are a<br>
potential copyright problem, I&#39;m not particularly worried about<br>
copyright issues.=C2=A0 (The python script was a throwaway, and I wasn&#39;=
t<br>
planning on redistributing it anyway.=C2=A0 :-)</blockquote><div><br></div>=
<div>This is another *HUGE* benefit of this newest generation of LLMs and i=
t is a revolutionary change in the wider world that I am am already seeing =
daily - it is personal free software happening at massive scale.=C2=A0</div=
><div><br></div><div>People, who are *NOT* programmers are able to describe=
 their needs in plain language and get their own, personal free software ge=
nerated that does exactly what *they* want it to do. Be it a Python script,=
 be it a OpenSCAD 3D model, be it an Android or iPhone application or a web=
 app. We are entering into a domain, where an older, non-programmer relativ=
e of mine was able to generate an Android app for themselves that replace a=
 paid app and had extra features they really wanted and get that on their p=
hone working perfectly within a couple of hours. It is life-changing enable=
ment that free software movement aways wanted to deliver to everyone, but s=
o far has only been able to deliver to programmers.</div><div><br></div><di=
v>This is a massive benefit, that we, as programmers, do not really see or =
value all that much.</div><div>=C2=A0</div></div><span class=3D"gmail_signa=
ture_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_signature"><div =
dir=3D"ltr">Best regards,<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 Aigars Mahinovs</div></div></div=
>

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